Alturas drills 48.5 meters of 2.24% zinc and 0.13% copper at Huajoto, Central Peru

     TSXV: ALT
     BVL: ALT

     TORONTO, Aug. 20 /CNW/ - Alturas Minerals Corp. ("Alturas") (TSX-V: ALT)
is pleased to announce that it has intersected wide intervals of strong
polymetallic mineralization in the first Diamond drill hole of the 3,000 meter
drilling program currently in progress at the Huajoto project in central Peru.
Drill hole JOT-08-01 intersected an upper section of 48.5 meters assaying
2.24% zinc and 0.13% copper from 11.5 to 60.0 meters and a lower section of
17.0 meters assaying 3.26% zinc and 0.18% copper from 101.0 to 118.0 meters.
Within these two sections, higher grade intervals of 5.80 meters assaying
3.48% zinc and 0.18% copper, and 4.40 meters assaying 7.28% zinc and 0.37%
copper, were encountered. The entire 106.5 meter thick polymetallic
mineralized package intersected between 11.5 and 118.0 meters averaged 1.64%
zinc and 0.09% copper.
     Drill hole JOT-08-01 was designed to test the down dip extensions of
strong surface mineralization in trenches previously reported from the
Caty-Pablo prospect (see press release dated June 4, 2008). The hole was
drilled to a depth of 355.6 meters at an inclination of -55 degrees towards an
azimuth of 225 degrees beneath the mineralized trenches.
     Miguel Cardozo, President of Alturas commented, "This first drill hole
has confirmed the strong mineral potential of our Huajoto property. We
interpret these reported upper and lower mineralized zones as shallow dipping
"mantos" of disseminated polymetallic mineralization that replace banded tuffs
and the intervals reported approximate their true widths. Interestingly, the
material between the mantos is significantly mineralized and, together with
the mantos, defines a 106.5 meter thick target package of disseminated
mineralization that we intend to follow up and expand with future drilling."
     The accompanying table highlights key results from drill hole JOT-08-01:

     -------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            From      To  Length    Zn     Cu     Au      REO
     Drill hole              (m)     (m)     (m)    (%)    (%)  (g/t)     (%)
     -------------------------------------------------------------------------
     JOT-08-01              0.00   11.50   11.50   0.08   0.01   0.01    0.26
     -------------------------------------------------------------------------
                           11.50   60.00   48.50   2.24   0.13   0.07    0.40
     -------------------------------------------------------------------------
               including   48.20   54.00    5.80   3.48   0.18   0.09    0.45
     -------------------------------------------------------------------------
                           60.00  101.00   41.00   0.26   0.01   0.04    0.17
     -------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          101.00  118.00   17.00   3.26   0.18   0.07    0.27
     -------------------------------------------------------------------------
               including  113.60  118.00    4.40   7.28   0.37   0.15    0.25
     -------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          299.00  300.50    1.50   8.56   0.28   0.10  pending
     -------------------------------------------------------------------------

     REO = Rare Earth Oxides expressed as a total oxide percentage

     The 3,700 hectare Huajoto project is located in the historic mining
district of Huancavelica in Central Peru. Huajoto is a zoned polymetallic
system 5.0 kilometers by 7.0 kilometers in size, with strong gold-silver
anomalies associated with a high sulfidation epithermal core (La Virgen
target) passing outwards into zones of strong zinc, copper and rare earth
surface geochemical anomalism (Caty-Pablo target). In terms of scale, geology
and mineralization characteristics, the Huajoto district possesses strong
analogies with the giant polymetallic districts of central Peru such as Cerro
de Pasco and Colquijirca-Marcapunta-San Gregorio, and also the San Cristobal
district in south-western Bolivia.
     Part of the Huajoto properties were previously explored by Teck Cominco
Peru S.A., (Teck Cominco Peru), a subsidiary of Teck Cominco Limited in
1999-2001. The Huajoto properties are subject to Option agreements with Teck
Cominco Peru and Compania Agregados Calcareos S.A. (COMACSA), a Peruvian
industrial minerals company. See Alturas press release dated September 18,
2007 for details of the tenure and terms of the Option agreements.
     For maps and an extended summary of exploration results, refer to the
Company's website http://www.alturasminerals.com/map-room.html

     About Alturas's QA/QC Procedures.

     Strict sample integrity is maintained throughout the geochemical sampling
program. The bagged samples are transported by Alturas staff to the city of
Huancayo in central Peru where they are shipped directly to Australian
Laboratory Services (ALS) in Lima. At the ALS's Lima facility, all samples are
dried then crushed to 70% -10 mesh ((less than)2mm) size; then riffle split to
obtain an approximately 250 gram subsample. The subsample is further crushed
to 85% -200 mesh ((less than)75 microns) to obtain a 100 gram split ready for
analysis. All samples are routinely assayed for gold by conventional
fire-assay methods at ALS Lima facility, and for 35 additional elements
(including silver, copper, lead, zinc) using aqua regia acid digestion
followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy
("ICP-AES") analysis. Samples reporting (greater than)1% zinc are routinely
assayed using a 4 acid decomposition/volumetric technique and analyzed by
Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy. Rare Earth Elements assays are conducted in
the Canadian facilities of ALS and form part of a 38 element suite analyzed
using the Lithium Metaborate Fusion decomposition technique followed by
Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy ("ICP-MS") analysis. Abundances
are expressed as a total Rare Earth Element Oxide figure (REO%), which is the
sum of all 15 recalculated rare earth element oxide percentages.
     Alturas follows a rigorous QC/QA program, including routine insertion of
standards and blanks as well as assay of duplicate samples at other
independent laboratories. Certified standards, of known gold grade are
inserted "blind" every 20th sample as an independent check on assay accuracy.

     About Alturas Minerals Corp.

     Alturas is a Canadian corporation, listed at the Toronto Stock Exchange
Ventures (TSXV) and the Bolsa de Valores de Lima (BVL), and is the parent of
Alturas Minerals S.A. ("Alturas Peru"). Alturas Peru has been actively
exploring various mineral projects in Peru since January 2004. The principal
assets of Alturas are four mineral exploration projects located in southern
and central Peru, being the Huilacollo Gold Project, the Banos del Indio Gold
Project, the Utupara Copper-Gold Project and the Huajoto Zinc-Gold-Rare Earths
Project. In addition, Alturas Peru has interests in eight other exploration
projects in Peru. Alturas' exploration strategy is focused on the discovery of
large epithermal gold mineralized deposits and copper-gold porphyry/skarn
deposits. For further information, please visit the Company's website at
www.alturasminerals.com

     Qualified Person

     As required by the National Instrument 43-101, Alturas's designated
Qualified Person for the supervision of exploration of the projects is
Dr. Paul Pearson, a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy and Vice President-Exploration of Alturas, who has verified the
technical information reported in this News Release.

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     The TSXV and the BVL do not accept responsibility for the adequacy or
     accuracy of this release.

     Cautionary Language and Forward Looking Statements
     --------------------------------------------------

     This press release may contain "forward-looking statements", which are
subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and
future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such
statements. Investors are cautioned that such statements are not guarantees of
future performance and results. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's
business are more fully discussed in the Company's disclosure documents filed
from time to time with the Canadian and Peruvian securities authorities

For further information: Miguel Cardozo, President & Chief Executive Officer,
Alturas Minerals Corp., Suite 820, 330 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 2S8,
Phone: (416) 366-5555 (Toronto), +51-1-475-1700 (Peru), Email:
mcardozo@alturasminerals.com